Quest Club becomes Epic, still sucks

Remember the Quest Club? Opened by Prince in 1992 as “The Glam Slam” (named after the song), the downtown Minneapolis nightclub was later sold and renamed the Quest Club. As late as Oct. 2005 you could sense the club was failing. Then they lost their liquor license, then there was a Lil’Flip concert shooting AND THEN a fire in its building back in late July 2006 flooded the newly renovated club and closed it for good.

Now it’s coming back as Epic Nightclub: “The Twin Cities premier concert and special events venue.” Yes, it’s an incredibly generic name shared with Epic Nightclubs across the world. And one doesn’t become a premier venue just by stating that you are.

Slated for opening in mid-November, the new owners (real estate guys, according to the PiPress) hope to attract some bands who don’t exactly think gigging in a Toys R Us parking lot in Maplewood is rock and roll.

As you can see from the photos on the new Web site, the renovation is quite extensive. No Brian Canfield Mitchell blacklight designs on the wall. The bars are updated, fancy ottomans line the dance floor, there’s a walk-out on the upper level for smokers, and the Ascot Room no longer has a creepy, stinky fountain. It’s a VIP room now.

However, they’ve compounded the already poor sight lines of the club by adding a giant staircase — further blocking views from anyone not standing directly in front of the stage. This is idiotic.

To find out more, I tried contacting the club. Of course, just like the good old Quest Club, I called the number on the site and reached only an answering machine with extensions that didn’t go anywhere.

If the sole purpose of the club is to be a “premier” music venue, why bastardize any chance of your customers getting a good look at the stage? Hate to say it, but Myth’s no-pillars design just looks better and better.

I emailed ‘John’ at Epic… Interesting reply, which shows the ignorance that is this new club…

Check it out.

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I wanted to express a dislike of the staircase you added.

Does anyone working on this project attend shows? The staircase
is blocking sight lines of the stage. Thats not too smart people.

Whats so premier about this club? You cannot be premier
just because you call yourself that. How crazy is that…your
not even open yet and apparently its so great — that staircase
does more to ruin the venue than it does good.